How Teachers Can Empower Students (and Their Families!) to Become Math Champions
PreK-12 math instruction is always changing. As we strive to make success in math possible for every learner, some states and districts are adopting instructional approaches that emphasize sense-making, inquiry-based learning, problem-solving, math discourse, and deep mathematical thinking. Many schools are moving away from a focus on getting the right answer quickly and instead are striving to foster student agency, empowering every learner to become a mathematician who better understands and can positively impact our complex world.
However, many families of today’s school-age children were taught to view mathematics as only a collection of facts, figures, and procedures to be memorized. Subsequently, and perhaps due to negative experiences with math, some families hold the belief that some people innately have an ability to do math, and others don’t.
These misconceptions, often paired with their children bringing home math homework that looks different from the assignments of their childhoods, can create a disconnect between school and home in PreK-12 math education. But just as families are encouraged to read with their children at home to foster literacy, engaging opportunities for math practice should also be present in a student’s home environment.
Many states and districts are increasingly adopting new standards for math instruction, such as California’s new mathematics framework, and partnerships between school and home will be more important than ever. Here are some key tenants and practical advice educators can offer their students’ families:
Fostering a Love of Math
As some families may hold limiting beliefs about their own math abilities or lack confidence in helping with students’ homework, it’s important they understand that they don’t have to be experts at math — or in teaching methods — to support their child’s learning. In a case where a district has adopted a new framework or curriculum, teachers are often still learning best practices for instruction, too! A fear of teaching math the “wrong way” shouldn’t hold families back.
In fact, their room for growth can even be an advantage. In many new frameworks, students are encouraged to engage in productive struggle. By working with their child to ask thoughtful questions about the problem or noticing and wondering together about math, they can model math growth and deep conceptual understanding teachers want students to practice.
In his white paper, A New Perspective on Math at Home, math education expert Dr. Raj Shah provides the following guidance for families to provide a positive, low-stress support system for their children — no math expertise required:
Building Mathematical Mindsets
It may be helpful for families, students, and teachers to adopt an understanding of mathematics as a verb. Dr. Raj Shah says,
“Math is noticing, exploring, investigating, questioning, thinking, reasoning, analyzing, wondering, discovering patterns, and solving problems. Parents need the tools to create an at-home culture that allows kids to explore their own questions, see math through their own eyes and make connections to their own lives, make mistakes without being judged, and solve challenging problems. When that happens, students are in the ideal space to develop the mathematical thinking skills to succeed in school and beyond.”
Exploring Math with Games
Just as families are encouraged to read with their children at night, games are an accessible, fun, and communal way to practice math at home. Games can replace or supplement math fact practice in the home, which for many families and students may lead to a stressful environment surrounding math. Good math games should prompt students to make observations about mathematical problems, ask thoughtful questions about math, and make connections to how math is present in the world around them. They should involve inquiry, problem-solving, estimation, and arithmetic skills.
For specific game recommendations by age to play at home that foster math practice, see Dr. Shah’s white paper.
Spotlight on California Teachers and Families
No community may feel the necessity of math-at-home partnerships more than California teachers and families as they adopt the new Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools.
The state’s new framework is student-centered, inquiry-based, and focused on “big idea” instruction that uses open and engaging tasks to invite students to ask questions and think critically about math. The framework de-emphasizes memorization and procedures (which will be new for many families and some teachers) to foster a deeper understanding of mathematics.
As schools shift to the new framework, many will be managing both the adoption of an entirely new approach and a newly adopted curriculum, making school-home partnerships especially important. For California districts adopting our program, Reveal Math, teachers will have a variety of tools at their disposal to facilitate at-home math partnerships:
- Math at Home activities are embedded into the curriculum.
- Additional Practice worksheets can be sent home.
- Families can support their child with accessing the curriculum and instruction online at home on their personal computers, tablets, or even mobile devices.
- For families who want or need to understand math beyond procedures two-minute Math Replay videos explain the content for each lesson.
- Digital games support in-class and out-of-class engagement and introduce students to gamified learning experiences.
- Embedded opportunities for reflection and conversation at home around the Math Is… Unit (the first unit of the course) helps establish what math means for every student and make connections to everyday life, even home life and family experiences.
Finally, districts can share this collection of resources with families as they explore Reveal Math, which includes content in English and Spanish:
*Password for the Padlets is Reveal*
For Grades K-5:
For Grades 6–8:
(Grades 9–12 coming soon!)
For more on Reveal Math, see: https://mhk12.us/45GCcXD
For more on California Reveal Math, see: https://mhk12.us/CARevealMath
For more math blogs, visit: https://medium.com/inspired-ideas-prek-12/math/home
